Record-breaking IPO: Lulu Retail secures $1.72 billion in UAE’s largest offering

Lulu Retail Holdings, which runs one of the Middle East's biggest hypermarket chains, said on Wednesday it had raised 6.32 billion dirhams ($1.72 billion) in its initial public offering, the UAE's largest listing this year so far.

The final share price was set at 2.04 dirhams ($0.5554), at the top of the indicative range.

The IPO was oversubscribed more than 25 times, with the offering seeing aggregate demand of over AED 135 billion from local, regional and global investors. The strong demand was a record for a non-government IPO over the last decade, according to Lulu.

Earlier this week, Lulu increased the size of the planned IPO to 30% from 25% due to high demand from foreign and regional investors.

Founded in 1974 by Indian businessman Yusuff Ali, Lulu joins other grocery firms that have listed amid a retail spending boom in the region, such as United Arab Emirates-based Spinneys  this year and Saudi grocery retailer BinDawood Holding in 2020.

The Gulf region accounted for the vast majority of the 30 IPOs in the Middle East and North Africa region in the first nine months of the year, raising a total of $5 billion, LSEG data shows.

($1=3.6724 UAE dirham)